Data from: Farmland heterogeneity benefits bats in agricultural landscapes.

Abstract from associated article: Pressure to increase food production poses a challenge for biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes. Previous studies suggest that one potential way to enhance biodiversity without taking land out of production is to increase the landscape heterogeneity of farmland by increasing the diversity of crop types in the landscape, and/or the complexity of the spatial pattern of the crop fields (e.g., by decreasing field sizes). Thus we hypothesize that farmland heterogeneity should also increase bat abundance and richness in agricultural landscapes. Here, we use data on bat activity and richness collected using acoustic surveys in rural eastern Ontario, Canada to test the predictions that there should be greater bat activity and greater species richness in agricultural landscapes with higher Shannon diversity of crops and smaller fields, when controlling for the effect of total crop cover. Bat activity increased with farmland heterogeneity, as predicted. Farmland heterogeneity was also positively related to species richness, although the relationship was not statistically supported. Positive effects of farmland heterogeneity on bats will be of interest to farmers and agricultural policy-makers, given the potential economic benefits of pest control by bats.

相关论文摘要：粮食增产的压力给农业景观中的生物多样性保护带来了挑战。先前研究表明，在不将土地脱离农业生产的前提下提升生物多样性的可行路径之一，是通过提升景观内作物种类的多样性，或是优化农田空间格局的复杂度（例如缩小田块规模）以增强农田景观异质性。据此我们提出假设：农业景观中的农田异质性同样能够提升蝙蝠的种群丰度与物种丰富度。本研究依托加拿大安大略省东部乡村地区通过声学监测获取的蝙蝠活动与物种丰富度数据，在控制作物总覆盖度影响的条件下，验证以下预测：在作物香农多样性（Shannon diversity）更高、田块规模更小的农业景观中，蝙蝠的活动频次与物种丰富度均更高。正如预测所示，蝙蝠的活动频次随农田异质性的提升而增加。农田异质性与物种丰富度亦呈正相关，但该关联未获得统计学支持。鉴于蝙蝠在虫害防控中可带来潜在经济收益，农田异质性对蝙蝠的积极作用将受到农户与农业政策制定者的重视。